CLARITEA
Member
Southern California full EV owner here, when it was 40 degrees for a week. My battery range went from 90 to 60. [emoji2]
Sent from my SM-G973U using Inside EVs mobile app
Sent from my SM-G973U using Inside EVs mobile app
Happy battery, happy owner
- Thread starter 228ra
- Start date
- Replies 28
- Views 4K
matthewdavis
New Member
Also Massachusetts here. I've only had my Clarity 2018 a week (and just received my charging cable today) so I haven't had the most consistent charging, however the one time I WAS able to charge the full way, the EV range was 37. I know the dealer REALLY wanted to get rid of the car (and gave me a really decent price) but should I be worried that it sat on a lot for months without being recharged? I heard that could damage the battery?
Anyway, nice to meet fellow Clarity owners
-Matthew
Anyway, nice to meet fellow Clarity owners
-Matthew
Dan Albrich
Well-Known Member
So I picked up my car today after insisting they show me the battery test results. They gave me several pages of text (not the screenshot I was asking for). It shows 53.2 ah which doesn't sound that bad if 55 is normal. They did charge me $118 for the printouts. I guess I'm pleased in that if this is accurate doesn't sound like traction battery, but still a bit confused why I don't ever see higher EV range, and have problems if I let EV range go to 0.
AnthonyW
Well-Known Member
Dan,
53.2 is very good. No reason to be concerned there. It sounds like you are not getting the battery up to its prime operating temp which is 25 to 35 (77 to 95). In general, overnight the battery temp will converge with ambient by morning time. In 60 degree weather, with the battery starting at 60 degrees, it will have only reached 63 or 64 degrees by the time I get to work which is 30 minutes and 27 miles away (mostly highway). I have purposely charged it on a Level 2 charger as soon as I got to work and the temp will only go up another 3 degrees. And that’s adding 8 to 10 kWh. So it sounds like you are not driving long enough or fast enough to even barely increase the temp. Lastly I don’t think you are getting the full benefit of regenerative braking. You need to be going faster for longer with more slight decelerations (as opposed to full stops). There is one thing you can do to find the optimal speed (at least directionally). Switch your drivers display to the average speed setting. Drive the exact same route every day and try to make observations when temps are close to the same. Vary your speeds each trip and note at which average speed that you get the most range. For me I got range in the low 50s when my average speed was in the low to mid 30’s. I got close to 60 miles of range when the average speed was 39 mph and got mid 40’s range when the average speed was above 48. Of course our commutes are different. You would need to observe your commute a good number of times to get a decent baseline to estimate your optimal speed.
Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
53.2 is very good. No reason to be concerned there. It sounds like you are not getting the battery up to its prime operating temp which is 25 to 35 (77 to 95). In general, overnight the battery temp will converge with ambient by morning time. In 60 degree weather, with the battery starting at 60 degrees, it will have only reached 63 or 64 degrees by the time I get to work which is 30 minutes and 27 miles away (mostly highway). I have purposely charged it on a Level 2 charger as soon as I got to work and the temp will only go up another 3 degrees. And that’s adding 8 to 10 kWh. So it sounds like you are not driving long enough or fast enough to even barely increase the temp. Lastly I don’t think you are getting the full benefit of regenerative braking. You need to be going faster for longer with more slight decelerations (as opposed to full stops). There is one thing you can do to find the optimal speed (at least directionally). Switch your drivers display to the average speed setting. Drive the exact same route every day and try to make observations when temps are close to the same. Vary your speeds each trip and note at which average speed that you get the most range. For me I got range in the low 50s when my average speed was in the low to mid 30’s. I got close to 60 miles of range when the average speed was 39 mph and got mid 40’s range when the average speed was above 48. Of course our commutes are different. You would need to observe your commute a good number of times to get a decent baseline to estimate your optimal speed.
Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Dan Albrich
Well-Known Member
Thank you AnthonyW. To some it may sound stupid that I paid for the battery test, but for my sake it was worth it for peace of mind. Not knowing what the AH were lead me to worry about the car. Also, I tend to buy a vehicle and drive it as long as I possibly can (which is part of why I care). i.e. I have no interest in driving for 5-7 years and "trade up." I drove my last car for 17 years and would of kept driving it but repeated head gasket failures got too expensive. Anyway, I now feel I can sit back and just enjoy the car. -Dan
before you panic drive the car for a while- the estimate is based on how it was driven in the past. if it was all highway it will be less. our clarity in Mass which is driven mostly locally in EV now is predicting 55 miles EV.Also Massachusetts here. I've only had my Clarity 2018 a week (and just received my charging cable today) so I haven't had the most consistent charging, however the one time I WAS able to charge the full way, the EV range was 37. I know the dealer REALLY wanted to get rid of the car (and gave me a really decent price) but should I be worried that it sat on a lot for months without being recharged? I heard that could damage the battery?
Anyway, nice to meet fellow Clarity owners
-Matthew
Dan Albrich
Well-Known Member
I think AnthonyW hits on some important points for folks who never see long EV range. I've long ago adjusted my driving to gradual starts and stops, avoided using cabin heat, etc. There's only so much one can do on those fronts and I've done them to an extreme I doubt most would (just to see if I can get estimated EV range to go up).
The things that I think (for my specific case) that matter: I live on a steep hill, about 800 or 1000ft above the valley floor. So I have to at least when going home go up the hill. My commute is stop and go, but all slow speeds. Never above 40mph (even in 25 mph zones). So I don't get long flat stretches where one speeds up, then gets a long regen. It's somewhat hilly, traffic lights, and mostly slow going both ways in my commute. I'm only 5 miles from work, but it takes at least 20 minutes to get there.
Anyway, folks have often asked me to do things like adjust my use of cabin heat (which is real and I get it), so I leave it off all the time (unless I require defrost to see). It just doesn't make that much difference. In other words, the estimated EV range for my commute appears to be 'other factors' like lack of ideal zones for regen, only slow speeds, etc.
The things that I think (for my specific case) that matter: I live on a steep hill, about 800 or 1000ft above the valley floor. So I have to at least when going home go up the hill. My commute is stop and go, but all slow speeds. Never above 40mph (even in 25 mph zones). So I don't get long flat stretches where one speeds up, then gets a long regen. It's somewhat hilly, traffic lights, and mostly slow going both ways in my commute. I'm only 5 miles from work, but it takes at least 20 minutes to get there.
Anyway, folks have often asked me to do things like adjust my use of cabin heat (which is real and I get it), so I leave it off all the time (unless I require defrost to see). It just doesn't make that much difference. In other words, the estimated EV range for my commute appears to be 'other factors' like lack of ideal zones for regen, only slow speeds, etc.
KentuckyKen
Well-Known Member
I have found after one year and once in each season that headlights and seat heater make a very minimal loss of range, AC a very small loss, but cabin heat and defroster make a noticeable and significant loss of range.
Preconditioning (especially in a garage) is your friend!
(And a good pair of gloves in the winter and ceramic tint in the summer.)
Preconditioning (especially in a garage) is your friend!
(And a good pair of gloves in the winter and ceramic tint in the summer.)
ralfalfa
Member
I agree with LAF to drive it a while, different distances, before you worry about your displayed EV range being a problem. The range shown is a calculated thing, not a discrete measure of battery charge, and adapts to your driving habits over time and even during a drive. In my experience you can start with it showing 37 miles and end up going 45 or 50 if you're getting good regeneration, limited acceleration, and as noted by others the battery is up to temp. The next time you drive the range will start out a bit higher if operating conditions haven't changed; not sure exactly how the range is calculated but it's clear it adapts based on continued driving (maybe tracking behavior between gas fill-ups, something the Clarity software clearly did based on prior software updates).